A Welsh Person`s Home Might As Well Be A Castle

August 21, 1988|By MARTHA GROSS, Staff Writer

At the bottom of the scale, campgrounds are many and handy. But the countryside is also peppered with charming bed-and-breakfasts and small hotels, some very old, mostly in quaint little buildings of stucco and stone, topped with lots of gables and chimneys.

Prices start under $20 a night. For that, you`ll likely get a cheery atmosphere, the owner`s dog wagging his tail at you, lace curtains on your windows and, on cold nights, a fire crackling in the fireplace and a hot water bottle in your bed.

A hearty English breakfast is standard. You can usually arrange to dine at your lodgings for a modest tab. Or in a pub, hotel or restaurant close by.

For lunch, choose a pub. You`ll pass dozens on the road to almost anywhere, with names like The Rowdy Sailor or The Golden Swan painted on signs hanging out front. In most you`ll find homemade soups, sandwiches, cheese, salad and fruit plates, hot dishes and/or baked potatoes with toppings, for a couple of pounds. Menus are often listed on blackboards. And a half-pint of bitter (about 55 pence) will warm you up nicely.

Welsh food may come as a pleasant surprise. It`s remarkably good, if you`re into home-grown, home-cooked, flavorful veggies and fruits and wholesome provender like porridge, crumpets and roast meats. (Unfortunately, they have mutton, too. The country is positively overrun with sheep. But most countries have at least one favorite dish that foreigners consider about as palatable as axle grease. Scotland has haggis, Hawaii has poi.)

And the puckish Welsh wit will probably delight you, too. They call their television ``telly-welly.`` They have nicknamed the town of Mold, ``Penicillin.``

And then there`s the legend about Welsh names. It used to be a patronymic system. No last names. Each child added his father`s name to his given name. But a few hundred years ago the English began pushing the Welsh to take family names. And Welshmen all over the country -- who didn`t take too kindly to the English telling them what to do -- declared for the name Jones.

Some, don`t you bet, could hardly do it with a straight face. Fact is, there`s no such letter as J in the Welsh alphabet.